BJ’s Restaurants

Keeping up with aggressive expansion

January 2, 2011

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse began as a small chain in southern California. Over the last six years, the company has boldly bucked the anemic economy, expanding eastward into 13 states. While many chains are simply remodeling existing stores, BJ’s has continued to build new restaurants from the ground up throughout 2009 and 2010.

As a key component of their growth strategy, BJ’s has engaged WD Partners to design and build its new restaurants, creating a striking and memorable atmosphere at each location for diners to enjoy. Warm earth tones and a unique mix of slate tile, custom wall murals, and copper architectural details create an energetic environment. Intriguing interior design, extensive handcrafted beer selections, and a surprisingly family-friendly vibe all contribute to the positive customer experience. But BJ’s success is also built on disciplined engineering and construction with a focus on deadlines.

BJ’s total revenues increased 24% to $128.8 million in the third quarter of 2010.

BJ’s knows that every day a restaurant opening slips past its target opening date, the chain loses money. So for the last six years, the company has partnered with WD to streamline the development of its new locations. We have worked as an extension of their team to help them reduce their building costs, increase the consistency and quality of construction, and accelerate the construction process.

WD has helped design and engineer more than 50 new BJ’s restaurants. Opening their doors at a rate of about 11–13 restaurants per year, BJ’s recently opened its 101st restaurant in Puente Hills, California. Their current development plans indicate that this pace will continue throughout 2011.